'Good People': not so hard to come by

Sometimes what goes around doesn’t always come back around.

In Deep Dish Theater Company’s “Good People,” main character Margie has yet to learn this lesson.

All her life she has tried to be a good person in the hopes that she will be rewarded for her behavior.

But when she loses her job and is facing eviction, that light at the end of the tunnel looks bleak.

Luckily, she learns that her old high school boyfriend has moved to Boston to set up a medical practice, which may be Margie’s best chance for a new job and a new fate.

But actress Helen Hagan, who plays Margie, said her character is not set up for a storybook ending.

“We all like to think that we are good people and eventually there is going to be a payoff,” she said.

Hagan also said the play touches on the idea that the high-school definition of what people think defines a good person is not always correct, and sometimes hard work doesn’t pay off.

“You feel pressure in doing things for other people, but that’s not always the right thing to do,” Hagan said.

“You think you’re making selfless choices, but that’s not always as appreciated as you think it is.”

In the play, Margie’s old boyfriend has found a way out of the lower class, but Margie has been in the same place since high school.

“Margie gets stuck in the lower class and is saddled with a child with mental health issues,” said actress Page Purgar, who plays Margie’s best friend Jean.

“(Margie’s boyfriend) felt he deserved what he got and she didn’t feel she deserved what she got.”

Purgar said she fell in love with the play because of the writing’s natural and realistic qualities and its relatability.

“People will feel like they are peeking in on a realistic situation, on somebody of lower-middle class,” she said.

“You get a sense of who these characters are in a short amount of time, and a lot of times that’s hard to do in a play.”

Director Tony Lea said he chose “Good People” because of the beautiful writing and compelling story by David Lindsay-Abaire.

“Lindsay-Abaire has an amazing ear for real human behavior,” Lea said.

“What a lot of people don’t know is when you get a play, it’s just a bunch of words that sometimes don’t translate to real actions. A good play gives you that human element.”

Pulitzer Prize winner Lindsay-Abaire has also authored the plays “Rabbit Hole,” “Fuddy Meers,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “Shrek the Musical” and wrote the screenplays for “Oz the Great and Powerful” and “Rise of the Guardians.”

Lea said he hopes the play will be universal and that it will make the audience both laugh and cry.

“It’s a drama that happens to be very funny,” Lea said. “It’s told with such insight and humor that it is funny.”

Lea said it has been a real pleasure to work with this group of actors.

“You have to be brave to be in front of an audience and allow them to see the flaws of the characters,” he said.

arts@dailytarheel.com